UNFPA has on Thursday, September 1st held a midyear meeting with implementing partners to review its programs in Sierra Leone.
The meeting was held to take stock of the progress UNFPA has made as well as to review, and discuss existing challenges facing the Agency's work plan implementation.
The objective is to get heavy portfolio and value for resources that have been provided for different programs, Pater Sam-Kpakra, Development Secretary, Ministry of Planning and Economic Development (MOPED) said in his welcome remarks.
This is coming at a time when UNFPA is more than half-way through the second year of implementation of its 7th Country Programme (2020-2023) which builds on and consolidates the gains from the previous country programme to maximize achievement of results under the three outcome areas- sexual and reproductive health, adolescents and youth, and gender equality and women's empowerment, UNFPA Country Representative, Ms. Nadia Rasheed said.
She said as UNFPA and partners take stock of the results they are achieving, they should be mindful that many women in Sierra Leone are still dying while giving birth; too many girls being denied opportunity to reach their full potential due to teenage pregnancy and too many women still being exposed to gender based violence at the hands of their intimate partners.
The fate of these voiceless women and girls should be our clarion call to continue to seek out interventions that would make a positive change in their lives, she said.
Rasheed expressed delight that UNFPA is able to convene its Implementing Partners, something she said has not been possible for the last two years due to the COVID 19 pandemic and its associated restrictions.
She commended the impact their implementing partners continue to make in delivering on the Sustainable Development Goals and in transforming the lives of women and young people.
UNFPA is celebrating a huge milestone with the development of its global Strategic Plan for 2022 - 2025 which seeks to accelerate progress on the three transformative results of (i) ending unmet need for family planning, (ii) ending preventable maternal deaths and (iii) ending gender-based violence and other harmful practices.
She also commended the Government of Sierra Leone, through the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development for providing the enabling environment through which the three transformative results can be implemented.
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As we commence the process of aligning our country programme to UNFPA's 2022-2025 Strategic Plan, UNFPA commits to reinvigorate its partnerships, including those with the private sector, civil society, academia and media so as to accelerate progress on the three transformative agenda, Rasheed said, imploring partners to work towards achieving universal access to sexual and reproductive health, realize reproductive rights for all, and accelerate the implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), contributing to the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development Goals.
Making a statement at the meeting in Lagoonda, the Minister of Planning and economic development, Dr Francis Kaikai said the contributions of implementing partners are central to meeting the goals of the UNFPA Country programme and also critical to achieving clusters 1, 5 and 6 of Sierra Leone's Medium Term National Development Plan priorities and to advancing achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in Sierra Leone.
He thanked UNFPA for organizing the event, noting that they as government they are pleased to be part of the meeting while he recognizes UNFPA's contribution to the Medium Term National Development Plan.
